Blood on Roses [COMPLETED]

Blood Curse - Roman Anderson

What did his brother mean to him? What did Hazel mean to him? What was this silent vampire thinking? How did Ashton disappear once and for all yet leave his power to him?

~ ~ ~

As far back as my memory went, I could only remember the gazes of sympathy in people's eyes. The maids and butlers of the Anderson family manor were always extra nice to my brother and me, even though our parents neglected us. Ashton was a kind soul; he thought they pitied us because we were deemed failures by our parents. I, on the other hand, believed that there was something wrong with us.

Ashton and I were superior to all of our peers. But even when Ashton could telekinetically lift two grand pianos at the age of six, and my teleportation knew no limit, our parents still paid us no attention whatsoever. It was as if they purposely avoided interacting with us.

My younger self dedicated a lot of my time to find a possible reason. I asked my aunts and uncles, who refused to answer me, and my cousins, who only looked at me with the same eyes as the maids and butlers. Eventually, I resorted to the library.

I read through the thousands of years of Anderson family history, but nothing explained Ashton's and my situation. I didn't understand.

And I entirely stopped caring the moment Ashton died. I made a deadly mistake. He died by my hands.

Nothing mattered anymore. Even the maids who kindly called me "Young Master Roman" and helped me train were all gone. Hatred replaced the curiosity within me. I couldn't remember my family as anything but neglectful and distant.

I blinked.

"Roman, are you listening?" Hailee asked with a small frown on her face.

"Sorry," I murmured. "I had another gap. I only remember up to when you walked up to me."

But I recalled more than that. I hazily saw an image of Hailee laughing and telling Ashton to quit joking around, but I dismissed that possibility as a dream. Oftentimes, I missed my brother so much that I saw hallucinations.

She sighed, then chuckled. "It's fine. I was just talking about the new girl joining us tomorrow."

"New girl?"

"Her name is Hazel Dawson," she chirpily replied. "She's a hybrid!"

I knew Hailee's dramatic personality expected a similar reaction from me, so I tugged up my eyebrows to act shocked. It seemed to satisfy her. "So, you're saying that I'll be her mode of transportation until she gets the ropes?"

Hailee bit her lip. "You're totally the quiet, smart guy sitting in the corner of Honors Chemistry."

"Pardon?"

"Yeah, you're right. This one might take longer than the usuals. After all, she's not voluntarily becoming a vampire."

I initially thought of this Hazel girl as nothing more than a pain in the ass. My convenient ability was always exploited as public transport, but now one of the passengers was an annoying, jittery, confused newbie. On top of that, she was going to hate me. This was worse than babysitting Kassandra Chaplain.

My impression of Hazel didn't change upon our first meeting. Afterward, I served only as a tool, so I never spoke to her. But whenever we crossed paths, she'd smile and wave as if we were familiar. I always ignored her.

My opinion altered a bit when Harvick decided to include Hazel in a mass-scale operation to rescue important captured members. Participants included only our best, and it seemed inappropriate to add a newbie who could barely control her power.